to p.r.o.nounce _supremum_ for _extremum_; at which Johnson"s critical ear instantly took offence, and discoursing vehemently on the unmetrical effect of such a lapse, he shewed himself as full as ever of the spirit of the grammarian[1228].
Having no near relations[1229], it had been for some time Johnson"s intention to make a liberal provision for his faithful servant, Mr.
Francis Barber, whom he looked upon as particularly under his protection, and whom he had all along treated truly as an humble friend.
Having asked Dr. Brocklesby what would be a proper annuity to a favourite servant, and being answered that it must depend on the circ.u.mstances of the master; and, that in the case of a n.o.bleman, fifty pounds a year was considered as an adequate reward for many years"
faithful service; "Then, (said Johnson,) shall I be _n.o.bilissimus_, for I mean to leave Frank seventy pounds a year, and I desire you to tell him so[1230]." It is strange, however, to think, that Johnson was not free from that general weakness of being averse to execute a will, so that he delayed it from time to time[1231]; and had it not been for Sir John Hawkins"s repeatedly urging it, I think it is probable that his kind resolution would not have been fulfilled. After making one, which, as Sir John Hawkins informs us, extended no further than the promised annuity, Johnson"s final disposition of his property was established by a Will and Codicil, of which copies are subjoined[1232].
The consideration of numerous papers of which he was possessed, seems to have struck Johnson"s mind, with a sudden anxiety, and as they were in great confusion, it is much to be lamented that he had not entrusted some faithful and discreet person with the care and selection of them; instead of which, he in a precipitate manner, burnt large ma.s.ses of them, with little regard, as I apprehend, to discrimination. Not that I suppose we have thus been deprived of any compositions which he had ever intended for the publick eye; but, from what escaped the flames, I judge that many curious circ.u.mstances relating both to himself and other literary characters have perished[1233].
Two very valuable articles, I am sure, we have lost, which were two quarto volumes, containing a full, fair, and most particular account of his own life, from his earliest recollection. I owned to him, that having accidentally seen them, I had read a great deal in them; and apologizing for the liberty I had taken, asked him if I could help it[1234]. He placidly answered, "Why, Sir, I do not think you could have helped it." I said that I had, for once in my life, felt half an inclination to commit theft. It had come into my mind to carry off those two volumes, and never see him more. Upon my inquiring how this would have affected him, "Sir, (said he,) I believe I should have gone mad[1235]."
During his last illness, Johnson experienced the steady and kind attachment of his numerous friends. Mr. Hoole has drawn up a narrative of what pa.s.sed in the visits which he paid him during that time, from the both of November to the 13th of December, the day of his death, inclusive, and has favoured me with a perusal of it, with permission to make extracts, which I have done. n.o.body was more attentive to him than Mr. Langton, to whom he tenderly said, _Te teneam moriens deficiente manu_[1237]. And I think it highly to the honour of Mr. Windham, that his important occupations as an active statesman[1238] did not prevent him from paying a.s.siduous respect to the dying Sage whom he revered. Mr.
Langton informs me, that, "one day he found Mr. Burke and four or five more friends sitting with Johnson. Mr. Burke said to him, "I am afraid, Sir, such a number of us may be oppressive to you." "No, Sir, (said Johnson,) it is not so; and I must be in a wretched state, indeed, when your company would not be a delight to me." Mr. Burke, in a tremulous voice, expressive of being very tenderly affected, replied, "My dear Sir, you have always been too good to me." Immediately afterwards he went away. This was the last circ.u.mstance in the acquaintance of these two eminent men[1239]."
The following particulars of his conversation within a few days of his death, I give on the authority of Mr. John Nichols[1240]:--
"He said, that the Parliamentary Debates were the only part of his writings which then gave him any compunction[1241]: but that at the time he wrote them, he had no conception he was imposing upon the world, though they were frequently written from very slender materials, and often from none at all,--the mere coinage of his own imagination. He never wrote any part of his works with equal velocity. Three columns of the _Magazine_, in an hour, was no uncommon effort, which was faster than most persons could have transcribed that quant.i.ty.
"Of his friend Cave, he always spoke with great affection. "Yet (said he,) Cave, (who never looked out of his window, but with a view to the _Gentleman"s Magazine_,) was a penurious pay-master; he would contract for lines by the hundred, and expect the long hundred; but he was a good man, and always delighted to have his friends at his table."
"When talking of a regular edition of his own works, he said, "that he had power, [from the booksellers,] to print such an edition, if his health admitted it; but had no power to a.s.sign over any edition, unless he could add notes, and so alter them as to make them new works; which his state of health forbade him to think of. I may possibly live, (said he,) or rather breath, three days, or perhaps three weeks; but find myself daily and gradually weaker."
"He said at another time, three or four days only before his death, speaking of the little fear he had of undergoing a chirurgical operation, "I would give one of these legs for a year more of life, I mean of comfortable life, not such as that which I now suffer;"--and lamented much his inability to read during his hours of restlessness; "I used formerly, (he added,) when sleepless in bed, _to read like a Turk_[1242]."
"Whilst confined by his last illness, it was his regular practice to have the church-service read to him, by some attentive and friendly Divine. The Rev. Mr. Hoole performed this kind office in my presence for the last time, when, by his own desire, no more than the Litany was read; in which his responses were in the deep and sonorous voice which Mr. Boswell has occasionally noticed, and with the most profound devotion that can be imagined. His hearing not being quite perfect, he more than once interrupted Mr. Hoole, with "Louder, my dear Sir, louder, I entreat you, or you pray in vain[1243]!"--and, when the service was ended, he, with great earnestness, turned round to an excellent lady who was present, saying, "I thank you, Madam, very heartily, for your kindness in joining me in this solemn exercise. Live well, I conjure you; and you will not feel the compunction at the last, which I now feel[1244]." So truly humble were the thoughts which this great and good man entertained of his own approaches to religious perfection[1245].
"He was earnestly invited to publish a volume of _Devotional Exercises_[1246]; but this, (though he listened to the proposal with much complacency, and a large sum of money was offered for it,) he declined, from motives of the sincerest modesty.
"He seriously entertained the thought of translating _Thua.n.u.s_[1247]. He often talked to me on the subject; and once, in particular, when I was rather wishing that he would favour the world, and gratify his sovereign, by a Life of Spenser[1248], (which he said that he would readily have done, had he been able to obtain any new materials for the purpose,) he added, "I have been thinking again, Sir, of _Thua.n.u.s_: it would not be the laborious task which you have supposed it. I should have no trouble but that of dictation, which would be performed as speedily as an amanuensis could write."
It is to the mutual credit of Johnson and Divines of different communions, that although he was a steady Church-of-England man, there was, nevertheless, much agreeable intercourse between him and them. Let me particularly name the late Mr. La Trobe, and Mr. Hutton[1249], of the Moravian profession. His intimacy with the English Benedictines, at Paris, has been mentioned[1250]; and as an additional proof of the charity in which he lived with good men of the Romish Church, I am happy in this opportunity of recording his friendship with the Reverend Thomas Hussey[1251], D.D. His Catholick Majesty"s Chaplain of Emba.s.sy at the Court of London, that very respectable man, eminent not only for his powerful eloquence as a preacher, but for his various abilities and acquisitions. Nay, though Johnson loved a Presbyterian the least of all, this did not prevent his having a long and uninterrupted social connection with the Reverend Dr. James Fordyce, who, since his death, hath gratefully celebrated him in a warm strain of devotional composition[1252].
Amidst the melancholy clouds which hung over the dying Johnson, his characteristical manner shewed itself on different occasions.
When Dr. Warren, in the usual style, hoped that he was better; his answer was, "No, Sir; you cannot conceive with what acceleration I advance towards death."
A man whom he had never seen before was employed one night to sit up with him[1253]. Being asked next morning how he liked his attendant, his answer was, "Not at all, Sir: the fellow"s an ideot; he is as aukward as a turn-spit when first put into the wheel, and as sleepy as a dormouse."
Mr. Windham having placed a pillow conveniently to support him, he thanked him for his kindness, and said, "That will do,--all that a pillow can do."
He repeated[1254] with great spirit a poem, consisting of several stanzas, in four lines, in alternate rhyme, which he said he had composed some years before, on occasion of a rich, extravagant young gentleman"s coming of age; saying he had never repeated it but once since he composed it, and had given but one copy of it. That copy was given to Mrs. Thrale, now Piozzi, who has published it in a Book which she ent.i.tles _British Synonymy_[1255], but which is truly a collection of entertaining remarks and stories, no matter whether accurate or not.
Being a piece of exquisite satire, conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour, and in a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson"s writings, I shall here insert it[1256]:--
Long-expected one-and-twenty, Ling"ring year, at length is flown; Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty, Great --- ----[1257], are now your own.
Loosen"d from the Minor"s tether, Free to mortgage or to sell, Wild as wind, and light as feather, Bid the sons of thrift farewell.
Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies, All the names that banish care; Lavish of your grandsire"s guineas, Shew the spirit of an heir.
All that prey on vice or folly Joy to see their quarry fly; There the gamester, light and jolly, There the lender, grave and sly.
Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, Let it wander as it will; Call the jockey, call the pander, Bid them come and take their fill.
When the bonny blade carouses, Pockets full, and spirits high-- What are acres? what are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.
Should the guardian friend or mother Tell the woes of wilful waste; Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother,-- You can hang or drown at last.
As he opened a note which his servant brought to him, he said, "An odd thought strikes me: we shall receive no letters in the grave[1258]."
He requested three things of Sir Joshua Reynolds:--To forgive him thirty pounds which he had borrowed of him; to read the Bible; and never to use his pencil on a Sunday[1259]. Sir Joshua readily acquiesced[1260].
Indeed he shewed the greatest anxiety for the religious improvement of his friends, to whom he discoursed of its infinite consequence. He begged of Mr. Hoole to think of what he had said, and to commit it to writing: and, upon being afterwards a.s.sured that this was done, pressed his hands, and in an earnest tone thanked him. Dr. Brocklesby having attended him with the utmost a.s.siduity and kindness as his physician and friend, he was peculiarly desirous that this gentleman should not entertain any loose speculative notions, but be confirmed in the truths of Christianity, and insisted on his writing down in his presence, as nearly as he could collect it, the import of what pa.s.sed on the subject: and Dr. Brocklesby having complied with the request, he made him sign the paper, and urged him to keep it in his own custody as long as he lived[1261].
Johnson, with that native fort.i.tude, which, amidst all his bodily distress and mental sufferings, never forsook him, asked Dr. Brocklesby, as a man in whom he had confidence, to tell him plainly whether he could recover. "Give me (said he) a direct answer." The Doctor having first asked him if he could bear the whole truth, which way soever it might lead, and being answered that he could, declared that, in his opinion, he could not recover without a miracle. "Then, (said Johnson,) I will take no more physick, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to G.o.d unclouded." In this resolution he persevered, and, at the same time, used only the weakest kinds of sustenance. Being pressed by Mr. Windham to take somewhat more generous nourishment, lest too low a diet should have the very effect which he dreaded, by debilitating his mind, he said, "I will take any thing but inebriating sustenance[1262]."
The Reverend Mr. Strahan, who was the son of his friend, and had been always one of his great favourites, had, during his last illness, the satisfaction of contributing to soothe and comfort him. That gentleman"s house, at Islington, of which he is Vicar, afforded Johnson, occasionally and easily, an agreeable change of place and fresh air; and he attended also upon him in town in the discharge of the sacred offices of his profession.
Mr. Strahan has given me the agreeable a.s.surance, that, after being in much agitation, Johnson became quite composed, and continued so till his death[1263].
Dr. Brocklesby, who will not be suspected of fanaticism, obliged me with the following accounts:--
"For some time before his death, all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith, and his trust in the merits and _propitiation_ of JESUS CHRIST.
"He talked often to me about the necessity of faith in the _sacrifice_ of Jesus, as necessary beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind.
"He pressed me to study Dr. Clarke and to read his Sermons. I asked him why he pressed Dr. Clarke, an Arian[1264]. "Because, (said he,) he is fullest on the _propitiatory sacrifice_.""
Johnson having thus in his mind the true Christian scheme, at once rational and consolatory, uniting justice and mercy in the DIVINITY, with the improvement of human nature, previous to his receiving the Holy Sacrament in his apartment, composed and fervently uttered this prayer[1265]:--
"Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now as to human eyes, it seems, about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy Son JESUS CHRIST, our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O LORD, that my whole hope and confidence may be in his merits, and thy mercy; enforce and accept my imperfect repentance; make this commemoration available to the confirmation of my faith, the establishment of my hope, and the enlargement of my charity; and make the death of thy Son JESUS CHRIST effectual to my redemption. Have mercy upon me, and pardon the mult.i.tude of my offences. Bless my friends; have mercy upon all men. Support me, by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death; and receive me, at my death, to everlasting happiness, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST. Amen."
Having, as has been already mentioned, made his will on the 8th and 9th of December, and settled all his worldly affairs, he languished till Monday, the 13th of that month, when he expired, about seven o"clock in the evening, with so little apparent pain that his attendants hardly perceived when his dissolution took place.
Of his last moments, my brother, Thomas David[1266], has furnished me with the following particulars:--
"The Doctor, from the time that he was certain his death was near, appeared to be perfectly resigned[1267], was seldom or never fretful or out of temper, and often said to his faithful servant, who gave me this account, "Attend, Francis, to the salvation of your soul, which is the object of greatest importance:" he also explained to him pa.s.sages in the scripture, and seemed to have pleasure in talking upon religious subjects.
"On Monday, the 13th of December, the day on which he died, a Miss Morris[1268], daughter to a particular friend of his, called, and said to Francis, that she begged to be permitted to see the Doctor, that she might earnestly request him to give her his blessing. Francis went into his room, followed by the young lady, and delivered the message. The Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said, "G.o.d bless you, my dear!"
These were the last words he spoke. His difficulty of breathing increased till about seven o"clock in the evening, when Mr. Barber and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were sitting in the room, observing that the noise he made in breathing had ceased, went to the bed, and found he was dead[1269]."
About two days after his death, the following very agreeable account was communicated to Mr. Malone, in a letter by the Honourable John Byng, to whom I am much obliged for granting me permission to introduce it in my work.
"DEAR SIR,
"Since I saw you, I have had a long conversation with Cawston[1270], who sat up with Dr. Johnson, from nine o"clock, on Sunday evening, till ten o"clock, on Monday morning. And, from what I can gather from him, it should seem, that Dr. Johnson was perfectly composed, steady in hope, and resigned to death. At the interval of each hour, they a.s.sisted him to sit up in his bed, and move his legs, which were in much pain; when he regularly addressed himself to fervent prayer; and though, sometimes, his voice failed him, his senses never did, during that time. The only sustenance he received, was cyder and water. He said his mind was prepared, and the time to his dissolution seemed long. At six in the morning, he enquired the hour, and, on being informed, said that all went on regularly, and he felt he had but a few hours to live.
"At ten o"clock in the morning, he parted from Cawston, saying, "You should not detain Mr. Windham"s servant:--I thank you; bear my remembrance to your master." Cawston says, that no man could appear more collected, more devout, or less terrified at the thoughts of the approaching minute.
"This account, which is so much more agreeable than, and somewhat different from, yours, has given us the satisfaction of thinking that that great man died as he lived, full of resignation, strengthened in faith, and joyful in hope."